Happy First Paycheque Day!
So I gave in and telephoned the DWP about getting National Insurance contributions paid for being unemployed, arranged an appointment with the (startlingly nice and helpful) young men on the phone, and wouldn't you know it, this acted as a very good Summon Employment charm.
Last week I worked two days for a lovely nursery minding 2-3 year olds. Not my usual line of work but I did learn a lot about little children which may come in handy later. This week not only did the nursery ask me back for another day but I was called out to the nicest primary school to do some short-notice cover for three days.
Upshot one: It's a bit daft, and might sound like sour grapes, but I'm quite glad I'm doing some supply work before (I hope, eventually) getting my first proper teaching job. After the PGCE year of full written lesson plans for every lesson and analysing everything before beginning anything, it's amazing to just walk into a room with someone else's back-of-an-old-worksheet lesson notes and realise it's possible to just *teach* stuff. Yes, I *can* keep an entire class of 6 year olds profitably occupied for an entire day using only the power of my brain and a whiteboard. And that's not even an interactive whiteboard. And 6 years old is KS1 which I didn't even train for. Yes, the PGCE knowledge will be absolutely vital when I sit down to do my first medium-term planning, for when I want to diagnose misconceptions and support weaknesses and encourage strengths... but for my own personal survival it's great to learn how not to sweat the small stuff.
Upshot two: There is new money in my bank account. Week two's packet will go 50:50 to the joint account and to savings, to start replacing what has been spent. I've been saving up for rainy days since I got my first job at 18, (actually, since I started getting 50p a week pocket money at the age of 5 and was rigorously trained by my accountant father- bless him- to save 25p of that per week,) and it felt very odd trying to convince my might-have-been accountant self that it was indeed raining. But week one's packet, as was traditional, had to be spent on something personal, luxurious, and slightly expensive. So when I wandered into TKMaxx this afternoon while waiting for the rain to stop, on the offchance of doing some early christmas shopping, and saw a dark, woollen, yummy, warm lovely coat, I bought. I will be warm outside this winter.
Then we went home and watched the new Star Trek movie on DVD with a Chinese takeaway, while Dora the Kitten enthusiastically tried to eat her grooming brush.
Last week I worked two days for a lovely nursery minding 2-3 year olds. Not my usual line of work but I did learn a lot about little children which may come in handy later. This week not only did the nursery ask me back for another day but I was called out to the nicest primary school to do some short-notice cover for three days.
Upshot one: It's a bit daft, and might sound like sour grapes, but I'm quite glad I'm doing some supply work before (I hope, eventually) getting my first proper teaching job. After the PGCE year of full written lesson plans for every lesson and analysing everything before beginning anything, it's amazing to just walk into a room with someone else's back-of-an-old-worksheet lesson notes and realise it's possible to just *teach* stuff. Yes, I *can* keep an entire class of 6 year olds profitably occupied for an entire day using only the power of my brain and a whiteboard. And that's not even an interactive whiteboard. And 6 years old is KS1 which I didn't even train for. Yes, the PGCE knowledge will be absolutely vital when I sit down to do my first medium-term planning, for when I want to diagnose misconceptions and support weaknesses and encourage strengths... but for my own personal survival it's great to learn how not to sweat the small stuff.
Upshot two: There is new money in my bank account. Week two's packet will go 50:50 to the joint account and to savings, to start replacing what has been spent. I've been saving up for rainy days since I got my first job at 18, (actually, since I started getting 50p a week pocket money at the age of 5 and was rigorously trained by my accountant father- bless him- to save 25p of that per week,) and it felt very odd trying to convince my might-have-been accountant self that it was indeed raining. But week one's packet, as was traditional, had to be spent on something personal, luxurious, and slightly expensive. So when I wandered into TKMaxx this afternoon while waiting for the rain to stop, on the offchance of doing some early christmas shopping, and saw a dark, woollen, yummy, warm lovely coat, I bought. I will be warm outside this winter.
Then we went home and watched the new Star Trek movie on DVD with a Chinese takeaway, while Dora the Kitten enthusiastically tried to eat her grooming brush.